Gold Coast stripper Leah shares her experiences as a dancer hustling for cash in new diaries

A Gold Coast stripper tells all on how she got into the industry and the good, bad and ugly. Don’t miss ‘The $tripper Diaries’. VIDEO

It started with waitressing shifts at an adult entertainment venue.

But then: “I saw all the money the girls were making for the same amount of hours I was working and I decided to jump over.

“The club I worked at had really good security and management,” she added, but notes early on she had a horrible experience with someone she knew who booker her. But more on that later.

She was in her late teens at the time she started - and now after years in the industry, veteran stripper Leah* has started documenting in a diary her shifts on the pole and hustling for cash.

It features the ups, downs and all the stories in between - the good, bad and the ugly - of a job she says she still loves years later.

Leah says while dancing in Australia is a lot safer than other countries, the rules, regulations and misconceptions of being a dancer still have a long way to go.

When she started working on Gold Coast it was quite confronting as she was on her own, she said.

“It was a little bit scary but I met a girl who started working that night as well and we ended up working six years together,” she said.

She said security and management on the Gold Coast was like no other.

“The dance manager had worked there for seven years and was like a mother hen,” she said.

“She would check on us all the time and really cared for us.”

Gold Coast stripper ‘Leah’ is documenting her shifts in the ‘$tripper Diaries’: “A few people I used to know came in and booked me. I had one guy who had a crush on me for a long time and I wasn’t into him at all. He came in and booked me - and assaulted me.” Picture: @stripper_stigma

LEAH’S MOST TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE WHILE ON THE JOB

Leah recalled she was only six weeks into working as a stripper when someone she knew assaulted her.

“It was when it all got out that I was dancing and a few people I used to know came in and booked me,” Leah said.

“I had one guy who had a crush on me for a long time and I wasn’t into him at all.

“He came in and booked me and assaulted me.

“He grabbed my vagina when I bent over. I will never forget that.”

She said it was the only moment when she thought “this will either make or break me”.

“The club kicked him out and put a ban on him for life,” Leah said.

Despite the club telling her to go home, she stayed to work while in shock, she said.

“I think because I knew him it was worse,” Leah said. “I had trusted him at one point in my life.”

She said while it was one of the worst experiences she had endured at work, she has otherwise had worse experience outside the job.

“Other than that incident, nothing has been worse than what I have experienced outside of work,” she said.

“I think that is the same for a lot of other people who work in the industry which is really sad and scary itself.

“The industry does create quite a safe space if you don’t abuse it.”

‘GET A LIFE’: ONLYFANS CREATOR’S FIERY TIRADE AT COPYRIGHT HACKERS

HOW DID FAMILY REACT

Leah said she has struggled with not being able to share her work day with friends and family

She said her family originally knew she was working as a waitress at a strip club but it wasn’t until someone ousted her three months into dancing when they found out.

“No body talked about it (when they found out),” she said.

“In a way it was good but as the years have gone on it gets annoying when no one asks ‘how was work?’.”

Gold Coast stripper Leah at night on fellow dancers just starting out: “They come in and work like eight nights in a row and say ‘Oh yeah, I’m on fire’. We just look at them and go ‘Oh honey...you are going to burn out hard’.”

WHAT IS A BABY STRIPPER

Leah defined a “baby stripper” as someone who is new to the industry.

“They come in and work like eight nights in a row and say ‘oh yeah i’m on fire’,” she said.

“We just look at them and go ‘oh honey, you are going to burn out hard’.”

Leah said when starting out, dancers can make a lot of money because of the “innocent vibe”.

“The vibes wears off in a month and I remember I was like ‘what the hell’ and had to figure out how to hustle.”

She said her main hustle was to ‘fake it till you make it’.

“You have to manifest how your night will be,” she said.

“You cannot go in there sad or go in there expecting people to make you feel good.

“They are there for you to make them feel good.”

She recalled her early years in the industry and said she was going through a lot personally and would go into work sad.

“I wanted men to make me feel good but I did not make much money,” Leah said.

“You have to have a good space, a strong head space and financial goals.”

Leah recalled back to her first club when she had a ‘house mum’ who helped dancers feel comfortable at work and created a space for them to feel welcomed.

“House mums call and check on you, they do your hair, they help you with your makeup,” she said.

“It feels like you have a mother at work which is lovely.”

She said clubs now don’t have ‘house mum’s’ but they would help baby strippers immensely.

WHAT ARE THE DANGEROUS STEREOTYPES/MISCONCEPTIONS

Leah said there was many dangers while on the job but the misconceptions of the industry in Australia was the main one.

“Sex workers don’t have any rights and there is nothing out there to protect us,” she said.

Leah said the adult industry in Australia was extremely different to America or in Hollywood movies.

“We have so many rules in Australia,” she said. “We even have no touching clubs.

“We have clubs where you can’t take your G-string off. We are so privileged in Australia.”

She said it was sad when girls revealed what they did to their family and were judged by what they know sex work to be on movies.

“In America the champagne room is like a brothel and they are in every club,” Leah said.

“We don’t have those rooms over here.”

She said it was harmful to judge Australian strippers as escorts because of the stereotypes which are projected on them by some.

She said every night dancers have to watch out for drinks getting spiked, being assaulted, getting stalked and many more harmful situations.

“When there is alcohol involved there is always a danger in any kind of environment,” Leah said.

She said she didn’t drink for her first two years working in the industry and also partly while she was working on the Gold Coast.

Gold Coast stripper Leah: “You just don’t eat - we don’t get breaks when we work because we work for ourselves. If you are off the floor, it will cost you $200.”

GOLD COAST ONLYFANS STAR SAYS GLAMORISING THE JOB IS UNSAFE

WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN

Leah said education and awareness around stripping was crucial to making it safer in Australia.

“Education for girls who are going into the industry is key,” she said.

“Girls need to learn how to strip safely and how to keep their mental health in check.”

She said there needed to be more psychologists and psychiatrists for people who are involved in the industry.

“There is no support or help for us,” Leah said.

“The only people we have are counsellors from Lifeline.”

She said filtering through every day trauma therapists who don’t understand sex work was draining and unsustainable.

“It chases you away from therapy because its very draining and judgmental.”

Leah said simple things like eating was crucial for dancers’ mental health.

“You just don’t eat,” she said. “We don’t get breaks when we work because we work for ourselves.

“If you are off the floor it will cost you $200.”

The Stripper Diaries by ‘Leah’, a Gold Coast dancer are coming soon exclusively to goldcoastbulletin.com.au.

“When you finish work you are so tired and go to bed. You can wake up and you haven’t eaten for 36 hours.”

She said understanding how you respond to alcohol and your limits was extremely important.

“Exercise, sunlight and having a lifestyle outside of work is so important.”

Leah said she hoped more senior dancers who leave the industry would continue to help those who are still in it or starting out.

“As you become an older dancer and you leave the industry and often they just shut that door,” she said.

“It kind of betrays everything that has happened or you have experiences and learnt. We aren’t allowed to talk about it.

“At family dinners no one wants to talk about what you did at work.

“If there was a way to get older strippers to be able to connect through social media and advise or be there for baby strippers, that would be great.”

She said it was common for more experienced strippers at work to be head down and focused.

“We have to work,” Leah said.

“We can’t sit and talk to baby strippers for 45 minutes, we can’t afford that,” she said.

Leah began writing a memoir four months ago about her time in the industry to help younger less experienced colleagues steer their way through.

“I wanted to help strippers but I couldn’t work out how I wanted to help them,” she said.

“I am writing the book so at the end I can write a book about what could have helped me and hopefully that will help others. It has been really healing.

“I wanted something to have to show people who have judged the industry so hard and say ‘no it actually saved me in so many ways’.”

*NOT HER REAL NAME

Follow @CrysalFoxJour1